From his early days as the Austrian Oak to his stint as one of Hollywood’s most famous leading men to his political career, Arnold Schwarzenegger has learned a lot over his five decades in the public eye. In the most recent instalment of his newsletter, he responded to a fan question about how getting older has affected him, both physically but also mentally.
“Physically, you just have to accept reality and do the best you can,” he says. “It is always difficult to accept that you aren’t where you once were… More than 2,000,000 Americans over 65 suffer from depression. I think a lot of that comes from hormonal changes that cause us to lose muscle over time. The global anti-aging market is worth 58 billion dollars. That is a lot of people trying to hold on to their youth.”
He also offered some practical advice for how to make changes to your workout routine that will help you train more safely and stay injury free as you get older.
“I’ve chosen to adapt to my age, make my workouts a little bit different and focused on staying lean, and avoiding injury,” he says. “This is why I’ve moved away from free weights and stick to the workout machines.” Schwarzenegger made this transition in 2012, and he isn’t the only one: during a recent conversation with Men’s Health, three-time Mr. Olympia winner Frank Zane revealed that he also started using weight machines as opposed to free weights after turning 70.
Schwarzenegger adds that he still works out every day because it’s what makes him happy, even if his training sessions still look very different now than they used to. “I’m addicted to training, and I have to start my day in the gym,” he says. “So today, even though my body won’t react the way it did 50 years ago, I can maintain as much as I can and it brings me great joy.”
As for how ageing has impacted him in a non-physical sense, Schwarzenegger says he is grateful for the perspective and experience that can only come with time:
“I feel much smarter than I was when I was younger, because I’ve read more, I’ve met more interesting people, I’ve become wiser, and of course, I’ve learned from my successes, and I’ve learned even more from my mistakes,” he says. “Today, at 74, I’m fighting for a clean environment, I’m a fitness crusader, a good government reform campaigner, a businessman, and of course, an entertainer. In my younger days, I couldn’t have talked healthcare policy or infrastructure in a really intelligent way, but now deep conversations about those topics bring me great joy. And I’ve learned life is about giving back, because in the end, we won’t be judged by how much we make, but by how much we give. It’s not just about me, it’s about we. In those ways, my life has only gotten more fulfilling.”
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